Lung cancer is sometimes referred to as the “invisible” cancer. Its impact may not often be discussed; but it is often felt. This disease takes more American lives each year than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined. One in 16 women will develop lung cancer in her lifetime (1), and anyone can get it. Do you know the facts you need to protect yourself and your family?

In a nationwide survey conducted by the National Lung Cancer Partnership, 83 percent of women did not know that lung cancer takes more lives than breast cancer. (2) Lung cancer will claim about 30,000 more lives than breast cancer this year. In fact, lung cancer takes the lives of more women each year than breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers combined. (1)

Lung cancer is sometimes thought of as a man’s disease. However, of the 215,000 cases of lung cancer diagnosed in the U.S. each year, nearly 100,300 (close to 50 percent) are in women. Over 71,030 women die from lung cancer annually, accounting for 26 percent of cancer deaths among women. (1)

One of the reasons this cancer is so deadly is because by the time symptoms are noticeable, the disease has often spread. The five-year survival rate for lung cancer is only 16 percent, compared to an 89 percent five-year survival rate for breast cancer. (1,3) A major reason for this is that lung cancer is more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage than many other types of cancers.1 Symptoms often don’t become noticeable until the cancer has grown or spread beyond the point where it can be removed surgically.

2. Smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer; but it is not the only cause.

Some women are under the false impression that if they don’t smoke, or they don’t live in a home with someone else who smokes, they are safe from lung cancer.

While it’s true the greatest risk factors for lung cancer are smoking-related, there are other causes of the disease. The second most common cause of lung cancer is radon, an odorless, colorless natural gas. (4)

Other risk factors include: lung scarring from tuberculosis and occupational or environmental exposure to secondhand smoke, air pollution, radiation, arsenic, asbestos and some organic chemicals. (1) In some cases, no obvious risk factor is found.

3. One in five women with lung cancer have never smoked,versus one in ten men with lung cancer. (1)

Women who have never smoked are more at risk for lung cancer than men who have never smoked. (3) Of the approximately 20,000 to 25,000 people who’ve never smoked diagnosed with lung cancer in the U.S. each year, more than 60 percent of them are women. (5)

Women are also more affected by lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke. Of the approximately 3,400 people who die from lung cancer in the U.S. annually due to exposure from secondhand smoke, 2,200 (65 percent) of them are women.6 Some evidence suggests that women may be more sensitive than men to the cancer-causing effects of chemicals in cigarettes. (7-13)

There’s an age difference, too. Approximately 9 percent of women diagnosed with lung cancer are younger then 50 years old, compared to 7 percent of men with lung cancer. (14)

In 2010, the National Cancer Institute and the Department of Defense spent approximately $1,888 per lung cancer death compared to $19,419 per breast cancer death, $11,871 per prostate cancer death, and $5,263 per colorectal cancer death. (1,15,16)

The only way we are going to make a considerable impact on the survival rates is by funding research to find new ways to detect, diagnose, and treat the disease.

5. You can reduce your risk.

If you smoke, get the help you need to quit (state quit lines can be accessed at www.naquitline.org or by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW).

If you live in an area with high levels of radon coming from the bedrock (see www.epa.gov/radon), the surgeon general recommends having your house tested for radon exposure. If radon levels are too high, a device can be installed to reduce them.

Eat a well-balanced diet and exercise. These activities help reduce the risk of all cancers.

If you smoke now or smoked in the past, or have a family history of lung cancer, consider speaking to your doctor about screening tests that may be available to you. Lung cancer is most treatable when it is detected early.